warriorsfanficfandomcom-20200213-history
Trees in the Wind
This Is my fanfiction- sorry that it takes a while for chapters to come out, I am kinda busy. The Warrior Code of the Moor Clans 1. Protect your clan, even with your life. You may have friendships with cats from other clans, but your loyalty must remain to your clan. 2. Do not hunt or trespass on another clan’s territory. 3. Kits may not be made apprentices until 4 moons old. 4. Newly appointed warriors keep a silent vigil for one night after receiving there warrior name. 5. A deputy must have mentored at least on apprentice. 6. Warriors do not need to kill to win battles. 7. In the full moon gathering, there is a truce as long as the moon is shining. 8. Boundaries are checked and marked daily. 9. The word of your clan leader must always be followed without question. 10. The clan leader chooses the cat who will succeed them after death, if none is chosen, the clan deputy will succeed the leader. The clan will be renamed in honor of the new leader. Allegiances AirClan A moor dueling clan with amazing speed and stamina Leader: Airstar: Golden she-cat with green eyes. Deputy: Blackdove: black and grey she-cat with amber eyes. Med-cat: Weedleaf: grey tabby she-cat with amber eyes. Warriors: Owltalon: Brown tom with amber eyes. Weaseltail: Grey tabby tom with blue eyes. Mistfur: White and grey she-cat with green eyes. Petalvenom: Tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes. Fleetfoot: Grey and brown tabby tom with amber eyes. Mosswhisker: Grey and white tom with green eyes. Apprentices: Flowerpaw: Beautiful ginger she-cat with bright blue eyes. Skypaw: Silver and black she-cat with green eyes. Snowpaw: Albino she-cat. Darkpaw: Black tom with amber eyes. Queens: Echodawn Blue-grey she-cat with amber eyes. Expecting. Elders: NONE NightClan A clan in the dence pine forest, they can see well in the dark and climb well Leader: Nightstar: Black tom with blue eyes. Deputy: Brownmouse: Small brown tom with amber eyes. Med-cat: Heatfern: Ginger she-cat with green eyes. Warriors: Greyfur: Grey tom with amber eyes. Vineclaw: Dark grey tom with green eyes. Heatherwhisker: Golden tabby she-cat with amber eyes. Hollystripe: Black and silver she-cat with blue eyes. Tawnyleaf: Tawny tom with green eyes. Wolffang: Grey tom with amber eyes. Foxleg: Ginger tom with amber eyes Apprentices: Yellowpaw: Gold tom with amber eyes. Sedgepaw: White she-cat with green eyes. Brackenpaw: Dappled golden tom with green eyes. Spiderpaw: Black tom with light brown paws, underbelly, muzzle, and tail-tip with amber eyes. Queens: Shimmerthicket:Silver tabby she-cat with green eyes. Expecting. Emberripple: Tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes. Kits: Silverkit: Silver tabby she-cat with amber eyes, Streamkit: Calico she-cat with green eyes. Icepetal: White she-cat with green eyes. Kits: Flamekit: Ginger she-cat with green eyes, Sparkkit: Ginger and white she-cat with amber eyes, Frostkit: White she-cat with green eyes. Elders: Rowenrock: Ginger tom with amber eyes. Stripedfern: Grey tabby tom with green eyes. GrassClan A moor dueling clan with lots of streams and ponds; they swim well Leader: Grassstar: Grey tom with green eyes. Deputy: Breezesky: Black she-cat with blue eyes. Med-cat: Shadepetal: Black she-cat with amber eyes. Apprentice: Littleleaf: Brown she-cat with amber eyes. Warriors: Blackfern: Black tom with amber eyes. Stripedstream: Silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes. Whitedawn: Calico she-cat with amber eyes Cloudpelt: White tom with amber eyes. Mistypath: Grey she-cat with green eyes. Larkflower: Ginger she-cat with green eyes Apprentices: Rockpaw: Grey and brown tom with amber eyes. Ashpaw: Grey and black tom with amber eyes. Queens: Icebird: White she-cat with green eyes. Kits: Darkkit: Black tom with amber eyes, Stormkit: White tom with amber eyes. Lilysun: Golden she-cat with green eyes. Expecting. Elders: Meadowheart: Grey she-cat with green eyes. Snakewhisker: Grey tabby tom with amber eyes. Toadwing: Grey tom wit amber eyes. Chapter 1 Living in your way of your life Bending towards the way of Strife Distance between you and lots of your kin The trees are not bending in the wind Flowerpaw raced along the rise, feeling the wind flow through her fur. Glancing back over her shoulder she saw her sisters Skypaw and Snowpaw racing along behind her. "You'll never catch me!" she called to them. Out of her littermates she was by far the fastest. After a while her littermates gave up saying they will get in first place, the biggest accomplishment you could get was second with Flowerpaw racing. "Flowerpaw! Slow down!" Snowpaw called. "Why should I?" Flowerpaw laughed. "Were supposed to be hunting not racing!" Skypaw called. Flowerpaw slowed down to a stop as she rolled her eyes and let her panting sisters catch up. "Where's Darkpaw? Flowerpaw demended. "We were going to fast for him, he will catch up sometime." Skypaw said. Darkpaw was their hopeless brother. He couldn't ever keep up on their races, and never brought back as much prey. "Snowpaw, jut go get him, and catch up when you can." "Okay." "Come on Skypaw." Flowerpaw said as Snowpaw darted off. "Fine miss bossy pants." Skypaw muttered. "Excuse me?" Flowerpaw hissed. Skypaw met her gaze, blinking innocently. "Oh, she did NOT just challenge me!" Flowerpaw lifted her gaze to look over her sister and spotted a rabbit not too far away. Without as much as a glance at Skypaw she sprinted off to the rabbit, her paws barely touching the ground. Within heartbeats Flowerpaw was racing behind the rabbit as it fled in terror. sending all of her energy to her hind legs she leaped on top of the rabbit. Flowerpaw picked up the rabbit and marched off, ignoring Skypaw's calls. "I can't believe her." Flowerpaw thought as she marched off to camp. Flowerpaw stopped. She couldn't go back to camp with only one piece of prey. Whirling around she raced towards the outskirts of the territory. Flowerpaw slowed to a stop. Straight ahead of her the Pines loomed. "How do NightClan stand it?" she muttered to herself. Flowerpaw froze. There was a pair of green eyes staring at her from the trees. She growled quietly. "I know your there!" She announced. "I know your there too." the owner of the eyes said. "It sounds like it is a male." Flowerpaw observed. "Who are you?" "A NightClan cat." "Duh!" Flowerpaw thought, irritation sparking. The cat laughed. "Oh, you bossy cats are so fun to annoy!" "Stop mocking me right now! And stop calling me bossy! I am not bossy!" The cat laughed harder. "I'm sorry," the cat managed to squeeze out "sorry. I'm Brackenpaw." "Took you long enough." Flowerpaw muttered. "And you are?" "I am Flowerpaw, daughter of the great leader Airstar!" Brackenpaw padded out of the trees so he was standing right along the border. "Nice to meet you." Flowerpaw looked at him. He was surprisingly handsome. For a NightClan tom anyway. His Golden coat had darker spots that made the rest of his coat glisten and his brilliant green eyes shone in the setting sun's light. "Nice to meet you too." she said slowly. There was a moment of silence. "What are you doing here?" Flowerpaw demanded. "I could ask you the same thing, I assume we both just happened to take a stroll on the border." "Right." Flowerpaw said. Silence again. Flowerpaw noticed the way Brackenpaw held his head up. His eyes met her's. "Are you challenging me!" She hissed defiantly. "What makes you think that I am challenging you?" "You were looking me in the eye!" "And? Even if I was challenging you, what is there to challenge?" He said reasonably. "Duh" "You are a tom and you aren't from AirClan." Flowerpaw responded "Obviously." Brackenpaw's hackles rose. "Are you saying that only she-cats from AirClan are important?" He growled. "Yes." Flowerpaw said proudly. Brackenpaw paused for a moment. "I see why we are told we are lucky in my clan." Brackenpaw hissed before racing off into the trees. Flowerpaw felt a twinge off disappointment. She had sort of liked Brackenpaw. "I should get on with my hunt." She decided. When she got back to camp, she had three rabbits. "Flowerpaw!" Airstar said as she padded into camp "I was starting to get worried." "I took a little alone time, that's all." "Come, dear." Airstar said "I am having a meeting with my important warriors, you may listen in if you wish." "Of course," Flowerpaw responded "the future leader needs to know how to run things!" "Come along then dear." Flowerpaw followed her into the cave where Airstar had made her den. Blackdove, Weedleaf, Mistfur, Petalvenom, and Weaseltail were waiting. "Weaseltail, what are you doing here." "I wanted to ask you if I may retire to the elders den. I have served the clan for a long time and I-" Airstar didn't let him finish. "Absolutely not." Airstar declared "Now go!" Airstar bare her teeth and Weaseltail nodded after a moment and padded out. "Mother, no disrespect, but why can't he retire?" "That right is reserved for she-cats, and is frowned upon in any cases." Airstar said smoothly. "I see." Flowerpaw said, slowly nodding. "That Brackenpaw is crazy," she thought "Every aspect of clan life favors she-cats" "What do you all have to say?" Airstar said. "We should try and take some of GrassClan's territory." Blackdove said "They have been mocking us and defying everything we stand for." "Indeed," Petalvenom said "They have a tom leader." Weedleaf cleared her throat and everyone looked at her. "Perhaps we should try NightClan." Weedleaf suggested. "They have trees Weedleaf! What can we do with trees?" Airstar demanded. "They have every single tree, even when the trees thin out. Not to mention that piece of moorland that they have for their elders to sun on." Airstar nodded slowly. "That is true... I think we should invade NightClan territory!" Airstar said "But what is the advantage we gain by taking that territory, Flowerpaw?" Airstar occasionally quizzed her daughter on things like this. "Ha, that's easy. More territory for us, less for them." "Brillient, Airstar, Flowerpaw," All of the cats said approvingly. "That is correct, Flowerpaw." Airstar said approvingly "We will attack in four days. You are all dismissed." All of the cats trotted out of the cave. Flowerpaw and Airstar stayed behind. "Where is Snowpaw?" Airstar aksed. "I sent Snowpaw to find Darkpaw. He went missing and who knows what kind of trouble he would get in by himself." "Oh, my son is missing too?" Airstar exclaimed "Will you go and find them? And take Skypaw with you." "I'm fine on my own, mother." "Absolutely not. That is an order." Flowerpaw opened her mouth for a retort, but thought better of it. "Yes mother." "Go and find your sister now." Airstar said briskly. "I am NOT going with Skypaw." Flowerpaw thought as she trotted out of the entrance. The moonlight lit up the moorland, even though it was only a half moon. Flowerpaw sprinted to where she and Snowpaw had split up. Tasting the air tentatively, she managed to catch a trace of Snowpaw's sent. Flowerpaw ran along the path, the sent was getting fresher the farther along the path she went, allowing her to go faster and faster. The path suddenly took a turn and headed in the opposite direction. "To meet me." Flowerpaw realized. Flowerpaw spotted the white pelt and the black pelt of her siblings near the NightClan border. "There you are!" Flowerpaw called. "You didn't wait for us!" Snowpaw commented. "No I didn't. I figured you would come back to camp on your own when you didn't find me." "We were going to, but we met this NightClan elder." Snowpaw said. "He told us this cool story of how Nightstar used to be in AirClan, SlateClan then." Darkpaw said, eyes shining. "But he left because he didn't feel welcome and loved the trees! And that is how he and his sister both got to be leaders!" Snowpaw said excitedly. "Wait, this elder claimed that Nightstar and Airstar are siblings?" Flowerpaw clarified. "Yes." Snowpaw said looking at her paws. "Ha! That's not true!" "It might be!" Darkpaw said defiantly "And besides I-" "Shut up!" Flowerpaw told her brother. "I will ask mother myself! Now back to camp, both of you!" Darkpaw shot her the tiniest of glares before starting to walk slowly in the direction of camp. "Faster!" Darkpaw started running towards camp. "Why is he so slow?" Flowerpaw ran and passed him after a moment before slowing herself down closer to his pace. When they finally reached camp Flowerpaw went straight for Airstar's den. "Flowerpaw." Airstar said. "Mother, Darkpaw brought up the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard when I found him! He said that you and Nightstar are related." Flowerpaw said. "Don't ever mention that!" Airstar snarled "My brother is never to be brought up by you again, you understand?" "So it's true? But how?" "Yes, mother" Flowerpaw said quietly. "I wanted to talk to you about something else." Flowerpaw nodded obediently. "You didn't bring Skypaw. You lied to me and directly ignored orders. I could punish you very severely for that." "I'm sorry mother, we got into a fight and I didn't want to talk to her..." Airstar didn't seem to hear her. "You will be the lowest rank until I think you have learned your lesson." "Even lower then Darkpaw?" Flowerpaw asked her heart dropping. "Yes. Is that understood?" "Yes mother." Flowerpaw said quietly. "You do understand why I have to do this, don't you?" "Because if you aren't strict, no one will obey you, and I must learn to not challenge you." "Good. You are dismissed." Flowerpaw sighed. This was going to be the worst, but arguing with Airstar would only make it worse. She padded out of the den and went straight to the apprentices den. Her littermates were already in their nests. All of the other apprentices had moved into the nest for the rank above them, leaving Flowerpaw with Darkpaw's nest. She sniffed it and wrinkled her nose. "Gross!" She glanced at Darkpaw, who looked like he was trying not to laugh. "He went dirt in the nest on propose!" Flowerpaw curled up outside of the nest. She hoped this would be over soon. --- Flowerpaw was glad Airstar still let her go with the battle patrol they were remarking the borders when they ran into a patrol with Nightstar himself in the lead. "A tom leading the patrol? What is wrong with that clan!" "Airstar." Nightstar said quietly what brings you here? "I am setting the borders, Night''star''" Airstar said hotly "It still amazes me you managed to become a leader." Nightstar didn't seem upset at all. "Well, I suppose if you need the territory, we can spare it. But it will not be a permanent border." Nightsatr said "We will leave you to it." With a flick of his tail, the entire patrol raced into the denser trees. "They didn't fight?" Airstar said. She didn't sound like she could believe it. "Well, we might as well finish whet we are doing." Airstar said. "Stupid toms," Flowerpaw thought, "they ruin everything fun." Chapter 2 Try to decide what's right and wrong Making amends, trying too belong It was one and a half moons later. Flowerpaw was miserable. All of her dignity had been lost. Her stupid excuse of a brother was above her in rank. Flowerpaw had to do all of the cleaning out the dens, with a little bit of help from Darkpaw occasionally. Flowerpaw was expected to keep up with all of her training as well. "Flowerpaw! Flowerpaw!" Airtsar called. Flowerpaw ran over to her mother. "Yes, mother." Flowerpaw said, crouching before her mother. "Rise." Flowerpaw did as she was told. "Now, I can't have my heir looking like this. You look like some kind of servant!" Flowerpaw looked at her mother in confusion. Airstar laughed. "In other words, I restore you to your proper rank. Go tell your siblings so you can move to your proper nests." "Thank you so much!" Flowerpaw said. "Run along now. I want you to come to the gathering tonight." Flowerpaw went back to her den and shoved Skypaw out of her nest. "Hay!" Skypaw said "You can't do that!" "I just got restored to my proper rank, so I can." Skypaw glared at her for a moment before nudging Snowpaw awake. "We're going back to our old nests." "Okay." Snowpaw said stretching "I might as well get up now anyway." Snowpaw glanced at Flowerpaw. "Congrats." "Thank you, Snowpaw." Snowpaw padded out of the den leaving Skypaw and Flowerpaw alone. "You know I was only joking when I said that you were bossy." "Joke's are supposed to be funny." "I can't believe you don't know me better then that!" Flowerpaw glanced at her sister. "We are 7 moons old and you don't know that I'm always kidding when I say stuff like that?" Skypaw asked, sounding hurt. "We are 7 moons old and you don't know that I don't find that funny." Flowerpaw said. Flowerpaw wasn't even asking. She was stating it as a fact. Flowerpaw started to walk out of the den. "Oh, and I highly recommend not talking like that to me again. I am your future leader, after all." That night almost all of the she-cats all went to the entrance of the camp to go to the gathering. Toms from AirClan only went when they are first made a warrior or apprentice. When they got to the great-mound Flowerpaw split off from the rest of her group to find a cat her age to talk to. "Hello." "Brackenpaw!" Flowerpaw slowly turned around. She felt her heart skip a beat. And she had thought he was handsome in the sunset! He was simply breathtaking in the moonlight. "How are you." he said, snapping Flowerpaw back to reality. "I am fine. How about you, Brackenpaw?" Flowerpaw replied. "Brackenstripe, and fine." "What?" Flowerpaw said. "I got my warrior name. Brackenstripe." "Your already fifteen moons old?" Flowerpaw asked. "I'm ten moons old." Brackenstaripe said, cocking his head to the side "Do you have to be fifteen moons old to become a warrior in your clan?" "The toms do!" Flowerpaw said. Brackenstripe narrowed his eyes. A growl rumbled in his throat. Brackenstripe took a deep breath. "Why do you judge others because of things they can't control?" he asked quietly "Cats would like you better if you didn't." Flowerpaw didn't respond. How come he knew that? "I would like you better that way." he said so quietly Flowerpaw barley heard him. Flowerpaw felt her heart give a little jump. She wasn't sure why she wanted him to like her, but him saying that made her feel lightheaded. "Do you like me anyway?" she asked. Brackenstripe shook his head slightly, looking kind of hesitant to tell her that he didn't like her. "Well at least he's being honest." Flowerpaw thought ruefully "Then you can teach me." "What?" Brackenstripe said, obviously startled. "Teach me to be better." Flowerpaw demanded. "How do you know that I'm right?" he asked, now looking kind of amused and startled. "I trust you, that's how." Flowerpaw said meeting his gaze. Brackenstripe blinked at her for a moment. Then there was silence. "I'll meet you, tomorrow, at moonhigh." she decided. "Fine, but just this once!" He sighed "And don't try anything." Brackenstripe nodded to her and padded off towards where his clan was gathering. Flowerpaw padded towards where her clan was gathering and glanced back to where Brackenstripe was with his Clan. He was standing in a way she had never seen any tom stand before. His head was raised and he kept his tail straight in the air. "Um, Flowerpaw?" Flowerpaw snapped her head around and found herself looking into a pair of red eyes. Snowpaw looked down immediately to avoid any farther eye contact. "Were leaving." she mumbled flicking her ears towards Airstar as she strotted forward, the rest of the clan following. "Thanks, Snowpaw." Flowerpaw said. "What were you staring at?" Snowpaw asked curiously "It looked like you were looking at Brackenstripe." "You know him?" Flowerpaw asked, shocked. "Yeah." Snowpaw said "I didn't know you did." "I met him a little while ago." Flowerpaw said nonspecifically. "She's probing me. I wonder if mother put her up to this." Flowerpaw wondered "Well, I can play that game too." "When did you meet him?" Flowerpaw asked. "Darkpaw and I met him at our first gathering." "Oh." Flowerpaw replied. "Not very vague." Flowerpaw thought "Maybe she was just curious." Flowerpaw tried to remember the last time she had talked to Snowpaw without barking an order at her. She only ever really talked to Skypaw, when Skypaw wasn't being unreasonable and annoying, that is. "It's been a long time since we've talked." Snowpaw echoed Flowerpaw's thoughts. They walked in silence for a moment. "Do you remember the time after it had rained for the first time in our life, and when Skypaw was running around she fell into the dip in the center of camp?" "Yeah, Weedleaf had to come and save her." Flowerpaw responded with a scoff "I was much more careful then her." "But when it hailed you got wacked on the head with a giant ball of hail." Flowerpaw let out a hiss and opened her mouth to let out a sharp retort. Snowpaw purred playfully. Flowerpaw took a deep breath and forced out a laugh. "Yeah; hilarious." Flowerpaw said doing her best to not sound sarcastic. "And I got stuck in the lookout tree on my first time climbing it!" Flowerpaw looked at her sister as she started laughing. "Why are you laughing? You mentioned something silly that happened to you." Flowerpaw pointed out. Snowpaw looked at her like she was crazy for a moment. "Because it was funny." "But it happened to you." "But it was still funny." "But it happened to you. You are laughing at yourself!" Flowerpaw said, starting to get irritated. "And I can laugh at myself. It is something that I learned to do. I'm not as fast as you, and not as loyal as Skypaw, and not as good at anything you and Skypaw are good at. Honestly, I'm clumsy. I can't begin to compare myself to either of you. But I learned to be happy anyway." Snowpaw shrugged "It is kind o hard to explain." Flowerpaw didn't say anything. Now that she thought about it, Darkpaw laughed at himself too. And so did Skypaw. Was that one of the things that Brackenstripe would teach her? Was it bad that she couldn't laugh at her flaws at mistakes? These thoughts kept circling through her head. --- The next night Flowerpaw waited at the NightClan border. Brackenstripe slowly padded into the moonlight. "Teach me." Flowerpaw ordered. "No." Brackenstripe said after a moment. "What! Teach me! I command you.!" "You need to use the words 'please' and 'thank you' when you ask for something, and not be so bossy." Brackenstripe said "You should be kinder to others and be accepting towards others ideas and opinions." Flowerpaw blinked for a moment. So he was going to teach her. "So... I'll try and do all that stuff and report back to you on the day after the half moon." Flowerpaw decided. Brackenstripe grunted. "Oh, um, does that sound good to you?" Flowerpaw added on slowly. "That sound good." He replied. "O.K. see you later!" "Aren't you forgetting something?" He asked. "What...?" "Tha- Than-" He prompted. "Oh! Thank You!" "No problem. See you on the day after the half moon." Brackenstripe nodded and raced off into the trees. Flowerpaw hesitated for a moment before speeding off towards her own camp. "If I take too much longer, my absence might be noted." She thought as she raced away. Flowerpaw wondered what Brackenstripe's camp looked like. No cat dared enter the woods to find out. Flowerpaw stopped outside of camp and gazed at the sharp rocks and prickly brambles carefully surrounding the camp. The entire area around the camp was rocky and full of brambles and gorse, making a perfect hideout. As Flowerpaw entered into camp the looked at all the caves that made up the warriors den, the leaders den, and the nursery. The prisoners den was shaky and let all of the air from the outside into it, and the apprentices den was made out of a vined plant growing on the outside of the den with brambles shielding it from the wind. A tumbling waterfall fell near the leaders den that came to a stream that cut right through the center of camp. Behind the waterfall the medicine den was placed. "I love this camp, I don't know how any cat could sleep in that dense forest." Flowerpaw slowly curled up in her nest, and sleep came the moment she did. --- Flowerpaw felt something poke her back. "Go away." she mumbled. "Flowerpaw, wake up! Our warrior assessment is today, remember?" Flowerpaw bolted straight up and found herself facing Skypaw. "Get ready." Skypaw said. Snowpaw was already up and grooming herself in her nest and Darkpaw wasn't in his nest at all. "Skypaw..." Flowerpaw said hesitantly. Flowerpaw hadn't talked to Skypaw yet. It was six days later and she had been doing her best to do everything Brackenstripe had said, but she still refused to talk to her sister. "I'm sorry." Flowerpaw blurted out. Skypaw looked surprised. "For what?" "For taking your jokes so seriously and... well or not being a better sister." "Are you feeling okay?" Skypaw asked. "Yeah, why?" "You? Apologize? If I get mad at you; you get mad at me for being mad at you!" Skypaw said." "I know, and that is a lot of what I am apologizing for; me getting mad at you when you get mad at me is just hypocritical. I'm sorry." Skypaw blinked for a moment and then licked her ear. "Thanks." Skypaw said. "I love you." Flowerpaw whispered. "So do I." Chapter 3 Taking risks that could cost a lot Staying brave with every thought It was close to midnight and halfway through her vigil when Flowersplash crept along the camp wall. She paused for a moment. Pawsteps were following her. She spun around and saw Snowflight following her. Snowflight gave her a smile as she approched "Skyflare is guarding the entrance." Flowersplash guessed. Flowersplash continued around the perimeter and paused as she circled around the dirt place. She tasted the air. Mistfur's sent clung to the bushes around the dirtplace, and led off in a trail towards he NightClan border. Flowersplash beckoned Snowflight forward and nodded at the bushes. Snowflight smelled them and her eyes widened. Flowersplash motioned for Snowflight to come with her and she ran to the front of camp. "Mistfur snuck out of camp, I'm going to follow her." Flowersplash whispered to Skyflare. Skyflare cocked her head at Flowersplash questioningly. "And I'm talking because we need to if we are going to get anything done okay!" Flowersplash added, guessing what she were thinking. Skyflare nodded and said: "Okay" Flowersplash didn't wait any longer, she whirled around and sprinted off to track down Mistsky. She had almost reached the border when she heard voices and she instantly dived into a bush to hide. "When can we meet again?" That was definitely Mistfur. "In a moon?" Said an unfamiliar tom. "I don't think I can wait that long, Tawnyleaf." Mistfur replied. "How about next new moon?" the tom- Tawnyleaf - said. "Okay, see you then." "I love you." "I love you too." Mistfur started back towards camp at a fast jog, and as soon as Flowersplash couldn't hear her anymore she started sprinting back to camp. She had news to bring the clan. Flowersplash sat in the clearing just after dawn. Everyone in the clan was gathered to find out what was going on with Mistfur. Airstar sat on the cliff outside her den looking around at all the cats gathered. "Mistfur- as you al know- has betrayed the clan. She has fallen in love- and has been meeting in secret with- a NightClan tom." Growls went through the clan, along with disapproving murmurs. "She will be in the prison, and will eat leftovers only until I have decided she has been punished enough." Airstar said briskly, as she glared down at Mistfur "That is all." Mistfur was looking at the ground. Petalvenom and Blackdove aproched her with what looked like an entire bramble bush, and wrapped in around her so that she couldn't run. Then they grabbed a vine that had pieces of sharpened wood stuck into it. Flowersplash winced. That was a type of thing that Flowersplash had seen used on one cat before: a GrassClen prisoner that they found spying. They had tortured him until he told them all of their secrets and then they had used him as a slave until he had managed to escape just after Flowersplash had become an apprentice. It had seemed fine to her then but now that Brackenstripe had started talking to her... she didn't know. "Brackenstripe!" her heart have a little flip as he thought of him. She felt like she was being ripped apart and like she was going to die of happiness and like nothing could ever go wrong what she thought of him. She had never felt like this before she had met him- but it was amazing. She couldn't wait until she could see him again. "Wait..." Mistfur couldn't wait to see Tawnyleaf either. Did that mean...? "No." But Flowersplash couldn't deny it. Now that she realized it she couldn't deny it. "No!" she screamed at herself, although she knew she couldn't deny a feeling this strong. She was in love. Chapter 4 Flowersplash treaded lightly over the ground she was leading the border patrol. Snowflight, Fleetfoot, Petalvenom, and Darkheart were following her. Darkheart had gotten his warrior name not to long after his sisters, which was surprising. The overload of work on toms usually meant they had to be apprentices for much longer. "Which isn't really fair." Flowersplash thought to herself. They were moving quickly along the NightClan border. They were mostly moving quickly because Flowersplash really didn't want to run into a patrol with Brackenstripe on it. As much as she wanted to see him; she was worried she might slip when she was talking to him. "Flowersplash, could you at least slow down a little?" Snowflight called from behind her. Flowersplash slowed down and noticed with a stab of guilt that the rest of the patrol was having a hard time keeping up at her pace. "Sure, sorry." Darkeart let out a disbelieving snort and Flowersplash glanced at him curiously but he was already turning to Snowflight to talk with her. Flowersplash didn't catch whet he said but Snowfliht burst out into helpless giggles. Flowersplash noticed Fleetfoot gazing at Snowflight as he trotted along next to her. He let out a sigh and looked at his feet with a smile. "What's up with him?" Flowersplash focused her thoughts on the border. Now they were on the land that AirClan had taken from NightClan. She tasted the Air. Flowersplash caught strong NightClan sent. "Do you smell that?" she whispered. Suddenly what looked like the entire clan of NightClan stepped out into the open. Her eyes immediately caught Barckenstripe's. He was standing in-between a smallish ginger and white she-cat who must still be an apprentice and a golden tom who looked a lot like him. "His brother, probably." Flowerspalsh looked quickly towards Nightstar. "What do you want?" she challenged. "Our land back." Nightstar replied "You can surrender it to us now, or fight. It's your choice." "We would never give it back to you without a fight!" Flowersplash snarled. Nightstar nodded once and flicked his tail. Suddenly, all of NightClan was on top of them. "Fleetfoot get help!" Flowersplash ordered "Share a vole!" Instantly Petalvenom was at her back and out of the corner of her eye she saw Darkheart back up against Snowflight. 'Share a vole' meant 'pair up in respective ranking', but it was easier to say and gave the enemy no warning to what they were going to do. A grey tom, a ginger tom, and a golden tabby she-cat came up to face her. Flowersplash hissed and slashed at them before they could attack. The grey tom leaped clear over her head and landed on Petalvenom behind her. Flowersplash collapsed to the ground when a cat landed on her from behind. She managed to look around and saw all of her clanmates being overpowered. "Their winning!"Flowersplash thought in despair. She saw a Dark grey, almost black, tom leap at Snowflight, his claws glinting dangerously in the sunlight, aimed at her throat as she struggled beneath a hissing white she-cat. With a sudden burst of rage she flung the cat on her of and rammed into the tom midair. He screeched in surprise as he toppled off course. He turned towards her and grabbed her scruff. She thrashed around, her claws flashing as he tossed her away. She landed painfully on the ground but scrambled up quickly. It happened all at once. Airstar came over the rise with a battle cry, and at the same moment the dark grey tom flung himself onto of Snowflight who had managed to stand up again and was still battling the white she-cat and bit down on her neck. "Nooooo!" Flowersplash cried as she leaped forward. She was to late. With a sickening crack Snowflight thudded onto the ground. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Snowflight, you can't die! Your not allowed to! I- I won't let you die!" Flowersplash could barley hear the battle around her as she looked at her sister. Slowly she looked up and met the grey toms eyes. he had an almost sympathetic look on his face. "You!" Flowersplash hissed. She leaped at him and he let out a startled yowl. She dug her claws into his pelt as he struggled beneath her. A cat suddenly barreled into her and she looked up and found herself looking up at the apprentice that had been standing next to Brackenstripe. The apprentice clawed at her ears and Flowersplash let out a yowl of rage. "Sparkpaw! Over here!" Flowersplash heard Brackenstripe's voice call. The apprentice hissed and bit Flowersplash's shoulder before leaping off of her. Flowersplash staggered to her feet and saw Brackenstripe and the apprentice fighting Airstar. Airstar spun and dived with battle patterns that Flowersplash had seen her mother use hundreds of times before, but they had never made choke as she saw her mother use them. Airstar flung the apprentice out of the way and turned to face Brackenstripe. She crouched down, getting ready for a leap, and she jumped straight up, twisted in the air and landed on the apprentice. Airstar grabbed the apprentice's neck and bit down hard. The cry of despair Brackenstripe let out matched Flowersplash's when Snowflight had fallen. "Don't kill him, please, please don't kill him!" Flowersplash pleaded in her mind. As Airstar whirled around Brackenstripe leaped on top of her. his claws ripped at her pelt viciously. Airstar managed to push him off of her. "Retreat!" she called as she darted for the slope. Flowersplash didn't hesitate, although she was surprised Airstar had called retreat. Her mother had never, never, retreated before, she grabbed Snowflight and ran towards camp. She could feel her sister's fur leaving a trail behind her as she ran, and it slowed her down. "Let us help." a voice said softly next to her and she felt some of the weight lift. She looked to the side and, to her surprise she saw Fleetfoot and Darkheart. She smiled weakly to them and focused on the ground in front of her. "I'll miss you, Snowflight." Chapter 5 Flowersplash slipped out of the entrance of camp. “Flowersplash?” Skyflare looked at her from her post guarding the entrance. “Insomnia.” Flowersplash mumbled and kept walking, staring at her paws. “Hey, are you okay?” Skyflare said, lying her tail over her back. “I’m fine!” Flowersplash said shoving Skyflare away. There was only one cat Flowersplash wanted to talk to. Two cats, really. But she was never gonna be able to talk to one of them again. “Flowersplash, stop, please stop for a moment.” “What?” Flowersplash growled. “I know you miss her.” Skyflare said in a soft voice “But you’re not alone.” Flowersplash’s heart twisted in her chest. Skyflare had no idea how true that was. “''At least there are two cats who I know are there for me.” Flowersplash met Skyflare’s eyes. “I just need to be alone right now.” Flowersplash said, quickly looking away again. Skyflare nodded and stepped back. “I understand.” “''No you don’t” “Thanks.” She said instead and ran off. After a while she came to an abrupt halt and called out into the woods. “Brackenstripe? Brackenstripe?” “Flowersplash?” Brackenstripe called “I’m so glad you’re here. I-I wasn’t sure if we were s-still fr-friends. Since te-technically our clans are at wa-war now. I thought you might not show up...” Brackenstripe trailed off. “Of course I was coming!” Flowersplash said, feeling lightheaded. “''He called us friends! Are we more than that? I want us to be.” “Yeah. You know, I want to show you something.” “Sure.” She replied. The walked along the border, each on their separate sides. Soon they reached the no-clan border. "Where are we going?" She asked. "You'll see." he answered. Brackenstripe led her along his border until he splashed through a stream ducked underneath a bush which had a tunnel under it. "''Cool!" The tunnel was longer then Flowersplash expected and was sloping gradually down. It was all way to muddy. There were another branch going off in another way occasionally, but Brackenstripe kept going straight. Eventually he ducked down and wriggled through a small opening in the tunnel that Flowersplash hadn't even noticed until he had gone into it. She followed and a couple of tail lengths later the tunnel abruptly widened and then took a sharp turn took a sharp turn and she saw moonlight pouring into the tunnel, along with the gentle pounding of water. She stepped out of the tunnel next to Brackenstripe. "Wow." "Isn't it beautiful?" It was beautiful. The area was surrounded by cliffs, with waterfalls trailing down them. They led down to a clear pool in the center, which had the whitest sand Flowersplash had ever seen. The rest of the area was covered with soft green grass, with colorful flowers. The rock on the cliff was full of color as well. Green, blue, black, red, purple; a whole rainbow of colors. Everything looked polished, yet natural at the same time. The moonlight glowed of off everything. Above the cliff, Flowersplash saw that there was a thick barrier of trees and brambles, even thicker than NightClans territory. "This tunnel," Brackenstripe said motioning to the cave they had just come out of "Is the only way in and out of here. And as you can see, the way to get here is very hidden to. Me and Sparkflower spent a long time looking for other ways in and out- we couldn't find any ways when we were looking for them." "Who's Sparkflower?" Flowersplash asked. "She was my best friend in my clan." he mumbled looking down "Airstar killed her in the battle a few days ago." "I'm sorry. My mother can be... violent." He met her eyes. "It's not your fault. It was a battle; and it's not like you could have fought against your own clan anyway." "Yeah." "I'm sorry about Snowflight." "How did you...?" she trailed off baffled. "I saw you carrying her away." "Oh." "I don't really want to talk about this." "I really like it here." she said. "Yeah, it's even more beautiful in daylight." "I can only imagine." "Come over here." he said, beckoning her over to the largest waterfall. Then, to her surprise, he stepped behind it. "Come on, it's perfectly safe." She stepped behind the waterfall and found herself in a cave absolutely covered in moss. The waterfall filtered the light and made it look like they were underwater. "This is amazing!" Flowersplash noticed he was now lying down. "I'm tired- don't get me wrong, I love spending time with you, but I haven't slept that well lately, and I want to get some sleep." "I'm tired too." Brackenstripe smiled and beckoned her over to lye down next to him. She walked over and curled up next to him. "Goodnight." She whispered. "Goodnight." He replied. "I love you" she thought, but did not say out loud. Then she let sleep overcome her. Chapter 6 COMING SOON